Mike Howett is the head shipwright of the Cariad Restoration Project.
He brings with him a wealth of knowledge about Australian (and in particular Tasmanian) boat building timbers.
He is now devoting his efforts into learning about Asian timbers.
Officially Mike is responsible for all timber related tasks on the Project – hull, deck, spars and interior fitout. In practice he does anything and everything. Projects like this need special people. Mike was a rare find and instills enthusiasm and leadership by example into his team. It is not unusual to see Mike on site working at 4 o’clock in the morning.
A quiet and polite Australian descended from Tynemouth boat builders and Herring fishermen.
His grandfather was a boat builder in Adelaide Australia. Served his time as a shipwright under Murray Griffiths restorer of Tasmanian timber vessels. His personal boat is the 80 year old gaff Huon Pine “Gannet II”. Mike owned his own saw mill specialising in cutting disappearing sub-species of timber. From old artisans he learnt the dying art of going into the bush and identifying rare woods suitable for custom boatbuilding and one-off furniture with natural patena. He learnt the European work ethic from master craftsman to be methodical in work organisation and traditional methods.
Now combines the new and old with modern materials.
Recently, guarded by bushmen armed with M16 Rifles, Mike trekked deep into the rugged forests of Laos in search of rare Takien Tong trees that, when saw-milled, will become the new planking for “Cariad”. |
Mike’s Story
I remember clearly the fortuitous meeting in Langkawi with Des Kearns aboard the timber launch “Kanungra” in early 2006.
We had been asked to perform a combined survey and condition report of this vessel.
As we went about our day going over Kunungra with a fine toothed comb discussing all the inherent problems in old timber boats, it became apparent that Des and I would have more to do with each other at a later date.
Some months later, Des rang me and said “I’ve got a small job I’d like you to look at!”
That job was the restoration of “Cariad”.
We spent many hours doing preliminary condition evaluations and discussing our options as to how much work we had to do and where it would be carried out.
We decided to take Cariad to southern Thailand to PSS Shipyard in Che Bi Lung as the carpenters there are well versed with timber vessels.
Prior to leaving Langkawi we stripped a lot of the fit out and rig and managed to lighten the vessel considerably as there is limited depth of water on the approach to Che Bi Lung.
All went well on both the trip across and the slipping of the vessel (a major task in itself) due to the competence of Pion and his slipway staff.
Next came the rather tentative task of dismantling Cariad for more comprehensive assessment of repairs needed.
The months to follow were very difficult for Des and I as we tried to strike a balance between maintaining as much of the original vessel as possible whilst still replacing everything necessary to give this wonderful old boat a chance at another 100 years.
As well as this, we also needed to set up all the infrastructure required to carry out such a big project.
Examples of this were proper support of the vessel so as to maintain her original shape, ramps and scaffolding for access, numerous workshops and storage facilities, a roof over Cariad, a kiln for drying timber, stands for spar work and countless other things too numerous to mention.
During this time, the Thai carpenters were busy removing the masts and all the fittings, dismantling the rotten decks and carefully removing selected planks under my ever watchful eye.
Unfortunately the more iron we exposed, the more obvious it became that we had a huge steelwork job ahead of us.
As is often the case in an old timber vessel, you find yourself opening a can of worms which you cannot see from the beginning. This is fortunate because many big projects would not have started had the extent of work been known in the first place.
I must admit right from the onset I was a little bit scared of the iron framing in Cariad as I had never worked on a composite hull before.
Fortunately Luck and a Thai steel team came to the rescue and we set about methodically replacing frame by frame after deplanking sections at a time.
This was done so as to maintain her fine lines and keep intact her proud spirit.
This is one of the biggest responsibilities of any wooden boat restorer.
All of the teak planks were removed with a great deal of care as I realized their potential for turning into fine furniture in the future. How often do you get to work with 130 year old used timber with all its character and patina!
This caused some amusement amongst the Thai carpenters as they thought of the old wood as rubbish but this was my way of training them to respect then eventually replicate 110 year old craftsmanship.
To their credit they have risen to the challenge admirably.
My favourite job so far, working with this old timber , was to build Stuart (the owner) a large chair out of Cariads transom with some of the carpenters in our spare time.
Many skills are required to take on a restoration project like this but most importantly a good team of people with passion is essential.
Sometimes it is hard to find such people but over the last twelve months Des and I have managed to source all of the necessary artisans to form such a team.
Special thanks to Warwick, Jory, Luigi and Russell for both their support on the ground and invaluable input.
Biggest thanks of all goes to Des for his great leveling ability and vast experience in this field. We all enjoy working together bantering around ideas and nutting out the big problems of the day.
A job of this magnitude also requires the untiring support of someone in the background.
I have had this in spades from my partner Gai without whom I would not have been able to come this far.
I also draw a lot of strength from the knowledge that my father would be very proud of the job we are doing on Cariad. He sailed on similar vessels in his youth and went on to race some in later years.
We still have a long way to go on Cariad but I confidently feel that we are on a downhill run.
Along with finding the right people, sourcing the materials for this job has been a huge task. Timber from Laos, Burma and as far away as B.C, bolts from America, oakum and caulking irons from England and the list goes on.
I feel it has taken me a lifetime of gathering skills from countless old craftsmen to prepare me for this task and I greatly appreciate Des giving me the opportunity to be part of this project and especially thank Stuart for his faith in us and of course supplying the finance.
Without people like this, many of these wonderful old vessels would be gone.
The steel structure is now complete, planking is well under way and we can almost smell the salt air! |
